Novels, friends, and football matches

I am certainly melancholic myself, and sometimes find life an overrated way of passing the time, but have never wanted not to be myself any more, never desired oblivion. I am not so convinced of life's nullity that the promise of a new novel or a new friend (or an old novel or an old friend), or a football match on television (or even the repeat of an old match) will not excite my interest all over again.

—Julian Barnes, Nothing to be Frightened Of [Quoted in Tolstoy and the Purple Chair]